About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Presentation to "The Stranger"

I prepared the following in
response to an invitation to meet with the Stranger as a candidate for King
County Executive. I decided to post it since before I was halfway through they stopped me and told me they
were not “interested” in transportation problems.

Presentation to The Stranger

My appearance this morning is not
an attempt to get the Stranger’s endorsement but to urge you to tell your
readers that while the current county executive may be effective in many respects,
the policies of the Sound Transit board he controls can only be described as M,I,A;
mendacious, incompetent, and arrogant.

Mendacious, because their claims for
the light rail spine ridership are sheer fantasy. The problem is all the Prop 1
and beyond light rail extensions are routed through the Downtown Seattle
Transit Tunnel. The PSRC concluded in a 2004 report the tunnel limited total
ridership to 8880 riders per hour in each direction. Yet Sound Transit claims
the Lynnwood and Everett extensions will add more than 100,000 riders. (Despite the fact daily bus ridership from the two cities totaled less than 9000 during 2017 first quarter)

They make similar claims for the
East Link and South Link extensions despite the fact their capacity will be
limited to half the 8880.Thus, none of the $54B spent on Prop 1 and beyond extensions will have the capacity
to increase the 10% of commuters who currently use transit; the only way to
reduce congestion.Along I-5,
their limited capacity means whatever ridership the extensions add will
displace those who currently ride Central Link.During peak commute they’ll likely lose all access to light
rail.

Incompetent because a competent
Sound Transit would have recognized this reality and expedited the light rail
extensions to West Seattle and Ballard.Seattle commuters surely deserve it since their 70% support for ST3 made
the extensions possible.Along
I-90, a competent Sound Transit would have recognized East Link would never
have the capacity to make up for the loss of the center roadway.They would have added the 4th
lanes more than 10 years ago reducing congestion for commuters from both sides
of the lake, especially reverse commuters.They would have initiated inbound and outbound BRT on the center roadway
with 10 times light rail capacity at one-tenth the cost.

Arrogant because they simply
ignored an FHWA 2004 ROD concluding that, even with the 4th lanes
added to the outer roadway, the center roadway lanes were still needed for
vehicles.The increased
Issaquah-to-Seattle travel times with the recent center roadway closure are a
clear indication the FHWA was right.Sound Transit’s likely claims East Link operation will reduce congestion
are absurd since the 50 buses it will replace on HOV lanes will do nothing to
reduce GP lane congestion.Congestion that will only increase with Sound Transit’s predicted
doubling of cross-lake commuters.

They showed even more arrogance by
claiming they didn’t need to abide by the Revised Code of Washington. RCW 81.104.100 requires high capacity transit planning
consider “a do-nothing option and a low capital option that maximizes the
current system”.Even a cursory
study would have concluded BRT was infinitely better for I-90 center roadway
and that increased bus service along limited access HOV lanes on I-5 could have
provided needed transit capacity at a fraction of light rail cost.

Even worse, the extensions Sound Transit will spend billions creating, not only won't help the area's commuters, their operating
costs will create a black hole for the entire area’s transportation funding.Residents throughout the area will pay
for the fact the longer route lengths in combination with the light rail car’s high
operating costs, 2 1/2 times that of buses, will result in trip costs that
dwarf rational fare-box revenues.

Again, I don’t want your endorsement, I urge you to tell your
readers these facts.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.